NASA: We will find alien life within 20 years


At NASA's Washington headquarters on Monday, a panel of space program scientists announced their estimation that humans will find extraterrestrial life within 20 years, going as far as to say that the estimate is a "conservative" one.
NASA outlined its plan to search for alien life and said it would launch the Transiting Exoplanet Surveying Satellite in 2017. The agency predicts that as many as 100 million worlds in the Milky Way galaxy may be home to alien life.
"Just imagine the moment when we find potential signatures of life," Matt Mountain, director of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, said at the announcement. "Imagine the moment when the world wakes up and the human race realizes that its long loneliness in time and space may be over — the possibility we're no longer alone in the universe."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
NASA astronomer Kevin Hand seconded Mountain's opinion, saying that within the next 20 years, "we will find out we are not alone in the universe," suggesting that extraterrestrial life may exist on Jupiter's moon Europa. The scientists at the panel said NASA's efforts are focusing on finding alien life on planets or stars outside the Earth's solar system.
For more detail about NASA's current projects and search for alien life, watch the video of Monday's panel below. --Meghan DeMaria
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Meghan DeMaria is a staff writer at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked for USA Today and Marie Claire.
-
Today's political cartoons - April 19, 2025
Cartoons Saturday's cartoons - free trade, judicial pushback, and more
By The Week US
-
5 educational cartoons about the Harvard pushback
Cartoons Artists take on academic freedom, institutional resistance, and more
By The Week US
-
One-pan black chickpeas with baharat and orange recipe
The Week Recommends This one-pan dish offers bold flavours, low effort and minimum clean up
By The Week UK
-
Scientists find hint of alien life on distant world
Speed Read NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has detected a possible signature of life on planet K2-18b
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Katy Perry, Gayle King visit space on Bezos rocket
Speed Read Six well-known women went into lower orbit for 11 minutes
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Scientists map miles of wiring in mouse brain
Speed Read Researchers have created the 'largest and most detailed wiring diagram of a mammalian brain to date,' said Nature
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Scientists genetically revive extinct 'dire wolves'
Speed Read A 'de-extinction' company has revived the species made popular by HBO's 'Game of Thrones'
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Dark energy may not doom the universe, data suggests
Speed Read The dark energy pushing the universe apart appears to be weakening
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Pharaoh's tomb discovered for first time in 100 years
Speed Read This is the first burial chamber of a pharaoh unearthed since Tutankhamun in 1922
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Scientists report optimal method to boil an egg
Speed Read It takes two temperatures of water to achieve and no fancy gadgets
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Europe records big leap in renewable energy
Speed Read Solar power overtook coal for the first time
By Peter Weber, The Week US